This disclosure relates to a system and method to assist people to better hear the voices of others.
When a user of earphones wears them in public, the social information broadcast to others is that the person wearing them is tuned into their own world and is not tuned into to the outside world. Hearing assist devices that look like existing earphones may broadcast the same social message, which is the opposite of what is intended. When a user wears a hearing assist device (and is operating it in hearing assist mode), the user wants to be connected to the outside world. It is desirable for these devices to broadcast a social message that the user in engaged with the outside world, not tuned out to it.